Isaiah 1:2-20 - Rebellious Judah

² Hear O heaven, and hearken O earth, for the LORD hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they are fallen away from me. ³ The ox knoweth his owner, and the Ass his master's crib; but Israel knoweth nothing. My people hath no understanding.

⁴ Alas for this sinful nation, which are expert in blasphemies; a seed of ungracious people, corrupt in their ways. They have forsaken the LORD; they have provoked the holy one of Israel unto anger, and are gone backward.

⁵ Wherefore should ye be plagued any more? For ye are ever falling away. The whole head is sick, and the heart is very heavy. ⁶ From the sole of the foot unto the head, there is no whole part in all your body: but all are wounds, botches, sores and stripes, which can neither be helped, bound up, mollified, nor eased with any ointment.

⁷ Your land lieth waste, your cities are burnt up, your enemies devour your land, and ye must be fain to stand, and look upon it: and it is desolate, as it were with enemies in a battle. ⁸ Moreover the daughter of Zion is left alone like a cottage in a vineyard, like a watch house in time of war, like a besieged city. ⁹ And except the LORD of Hosts had left us a few alive, we should have been as Sodom, and like unto Gomorrah.

¹⁰ Hear the word of the LORD, ye tyrants of Sodom, and hearken unto the law of our God, thou people of Gomorrah. ¹¹ Why offer ye so many sacrifices unto me, sayeth the LORD? I am full of the burnt offerings of weathers, and with the fatness of fed beasts. I have no pleasure in the blood of bullocks, lambs, and goats. ¹² When ye appear before me, who requireth this of you to tread within my porches? ¹³ Offer me no more oblations, for it is but lost labour. I abhor your incense. I may not away with your new moons, your Sabbaths and solemn days. Your fastings are also in vain. ¹⁴ I hate your new holidays and fastings, even from my very heart. I cannot away with such vanity and holding in of the people. They lay upon me as a burden, and I am weary of bearing them! ¹⁵ When ye hold out your hands, I will turn my eyes from you. And though ye make many prayers, yet will I hear nothing at all; for your hands are full of blood.

¹⁶ Thus saith the LORD God: Wash and be clean; put away the wickedness of your imaginations out of my sight. Cease to do evil and learn to do well. ¹⁷ Study to do righteously, and help the oppressed. Avenge the fatherless and defend the cause of widows. Come, let us show each his grief to other and make an atonement, saith the LORD.

¹⁸ And so though your sins be like to purple, they shall be made as white as snow; and though they be as red as scarlet, they shall be made like white wool. ¹⁹ If ye will agree and hearken, ye shall eat the best of the land, saith the LORD God. ²⁰ But if ye be obstinate and rebellious, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for thus the LORD hath promised with his own mouth.